Communications Department - (360) 943-5001 - Fax 586-6838 - 415 Airdustrial Way SW - Olympia, WA 98501
Reference & Information line: 704-INFO in Olympia area or toll-free 1-800-562-6022. 
 TRL Web site: http://www.timberland.lib.wa.us  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 31, 2003

Media Contacts: Leanne Ingle, TRL Communications Specialist, 877-284-6237; Michelle Zilli, Naselle Timberland Library, 360-484-3877; Jane Tucker, Astoria Library, 325-7323.

EVERYONE’S READING "SARAH CANARY"

From Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula through Clatsop County, Oregon, people are reading the same book: Sarah Canary, by Karen Joy Fowler. Clatsop County libraries developed a program called "Everyone Read the Same Book" in order to bring neighboring communities together and provide a topic for stimulating discussion and warm debate this winter.

The public libraries in Naselle, Ocean Park and Ilwaco in Washington, and Manzanita, Cannon Beach, Seaside and Astoria in Oregon are participating. The program is open to all. Discussions of the book will be held at the Cannon Beach, Seaside, and Astoria libraries. The discussions listed below begin at noon and last an hour. People are welcome to bring a bag lunch and beverage.

Clatsop County librarians are arranging visits with the author. A two-hour writers’ workshop with Fowler will be held Friday, March 21 in Nehalem. Fowler will give a public lecture on Saturday, March 22 in Astoria. Fees and exact times and locations will be announced.

Librarians looked for a novel that has broad appeal and would invite lively discussion. Sarah Canary fits the description. It is set in the Washington Territory near Seattle in 1873 and deals with regional themes. Each character has a different take on reality and adds a layer to the novel. A Mandarin scholar, fluent in German and English and shanghaied to work the railroads; an inmate from Steilacoom Territorial Asylum; a feminist on a lecture tour; and a survivor of a Civil War prison are united by their contact with the enigmatic central character, Sarah Canary, who may be insane or supernatural—or both.

People can read about Fowler and her novels at www.readinggroupguides.com. Timberland cardholders can also view online reference resources on authors at www.timberland.lib.wa.us. For more information, check at a participating library or call the Naselle Timberland Library at 484-3877.

Timberland Regional Library serves Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties at 27 community libraries and 6 school-based cooperative library centers. For information on any subject, the public can telephone reference librarians at Timberland’s Central Reference Service at 704-INFO (704-4636) from Thurston County, Shelton and Oakville or 1-800-562-6022, toll-free, from all other areas in the district. Or they can "Ask a Librarian" online at http://www.timberland.lib.wa.us/asklib.htm.

Revised 02/05/03

For Information or to Ask a Reference Question:  Ask A Librarian
Or, Call 704-INFO (360-704-4636) in the Olympia area or 1-800-562-6022

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Timberland Regional Library serves Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties in Western Washington State.